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Published on March 23, 2008 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release


TRAVERSE CITY - Two things were decided on Saturday night at Centre ICE arena: The Traverse City North Stars will close out the 2007-08 season in Marquette, and the NAHL's regular-season champion St. Louis Bandits are pretty good.

The former was decided when the U.S. National Team Development Program knocked off Marquette in Ann Arbor - thus clinching the fourth and final playoff spot in the NAHL north Division - and the latter was evidenced by the Bandits' 5-3 win over the North Stars.

"I was ecstatic with out effort tonight," said Stars head coach/GM Anthony Palumbo. "We went blow-for-blow with the top team in the division - in the league. I thought we competed hard, we executed fairly well, and I applaud our effort."

St. Louis (45-9-2) grabbed a 1-0 lead 5:07 into the contest, but Eric O'Hearn (Traverse City, MI/Soo Indians AAA) evened things up just over eight minutes later. The Bandits went on top again late in the first, but Kyle Bonis (Lindsay, ONT/Indiana USHL) got the Stars even again 5:04 into the second. The Bandits then reeled off three straight markers - two in the second half of the second period plus an empty-netter in the waning moments of the contest - before O'Hearn capped things with his second of the game at 19:59.

The Stars (21-23-12) close out the 2007-08 campaign next weekend at the Rangers, but Palumbo says there's still plenty to play for.

"Basically, we don't want to finish last, we have a chance to get to .500 - and we can still win the SmithBarney Challenge Cup from them," he explained. "I think it'll be a very competitive series."

Six different North Stars drew assists on Saturday, including Sean Burke (Traverse City, MI/Traverse City West HS), Tyler Stephens (Rockford, MI/Blind River NOJHL), Nate Urbaniak (Perrysburg, OH/ Toledo Jr B CSHL), Jameson Raymond (Flint, MI/Bozeman NAHL), Alex Breeden (Ft. Collins, CO/North Iowa NAHL), and Jarrod LaBelle (Bay City, MI/Flint Jr B CSHL).

The Stars-Rangers series, slated for Lakeview Arena, is set for a 7:30 p.m. start on both Friday and Saturday.

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North American Hockey League Stories from March 23, 2008


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